The committee is planning to submit a recommendation to the Chancellor by the end of spring break. The recommendation will ask licensees to comply with the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh. This independent, legally binding agreement was created in response to a fatal factory collapse and aims to make garment factories in Bangladesh safer workplaces.

Student Action with Workers is delivering a letter to Chancellor Folt today at 12:30 p.m., asking her to meet with the group once she’s gotten a recommendation from the committee.

Option A requires all UNC collegiate product licensees in Bangladesh to sign the Accord. Option B requires UNC collegiate product licensees to either sign the Accord or meet University standards. Option C requires licensees to either sign the Accord or the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety, another worker safety agreement seen in Bangladesh.

“We tried to be very balanced,” said Meredith Weiss, associate vice chancellor for business services and administration. “Sometimes a con can be a pro and a pro can be a con depending on who’s reading it.”

Of UNC’s 340 licensees, 20 have disclosed factories in Bangladesh. Six of those factories are members of the Accord and one is a member of the Alliance. The remaining 13 have not signed either agreement.

Nike, the second largest brand sold at UNC Student Stores, will not be included in either the Accord or the Alliance, a less strict version of the Accord. The committee found that the company had a limited factory presence in Bangladesh.

Eight universities have formally required their licensees to sign the Accord, including Duke University, Columbia University and Cornell University.

The committee, which has been working closely with students in the Student Action with Workers, has been working on a recommendation since October.

Elizabeth Haddix, a staff attorney at the UNC law school, said implementing Option A would best comply with UNC’s Labor Code of Conduct in terms of human rights, labor and business standards.

“It seems like if you’re talking about maximum possible compliance for each of these standards that would be the Accord because it’s enforceable and binding,” she said.